he also had a tragic ending to his wife. >> that it's a beetle. a beetle performing his songs. oh, my lord. paul mccartney can sing anything. >> no, no, he cannot. >> he was respectful. he didn't sing any of the old nirvana songs. just this one. sandra: may be the nirvana lovers can have a little bit of a problem with this guy. that's been great, guys. that is all the money we have for you tonight. "the willis report" is next. gerri: tracy: hello, i am tracy byrnes for a president obama is meeting at the white house right now.

a meeting called by the white house. a little bit strange since earlier today. speaker boehner left the capital and the white house said the ball was in speaker boehner square. rich edson is on the white house with the latest. were they talking about? this on a day when president obama said i have cut $1 trillion already in spending. that was part of last summer's budget deal. but he says that i am willing to do a lot more cuts in spending. you have a willingness to do spending cuts, a willingness from john boehner to raise revenues. however, we have been stuck on the details of this thing for the past two weeks here. the past three weeks or longer. the white house is putting an offer on the table. they were far apart in spending cuts. our part in revenues and the way they do increase tax revenues. republicans say no to any tax

rate increase. how speaker john boehner says they will do it by limiting deductions next year. what the white house wants is an immediate tax rate increase on families earning more than $250,000 per year. they have been going round and round. there has been incredibly little progress in washington since the offers officers were first treated. with respect you could start to run up to christmas here. it could take up to three days to get something through the senate. republicans have to sell it to house republicans. democrats have to be on board there. there are a number of different little concerns that happen, it and we are not even close to a deal.

tracy: in that same local interview he had with the minnesota radio station, he said that spending cuts have to be paired with tax revenue increases. do we know what he's talking about? is he talking about a dollar for dollar cannot? >> we don't know what the proportion is. we have republicans saying that the president had previously promised to do 31 or four to one in tax revenues, the smaller part being the tax revenues and spending cuts, we know the white house had reduced the demand from 1.6 trillion to 1.4 trillion. they said that it was willing to do $600 billion in spending cuts. the republican offer had been $800 billion in revenue. again, it is how you structure the things and not just numbers. you have republicans wanting for any type of tax increase, and the revenue increase, they want entitlement reform is part of that. today you have democrats fighting back against any idea of touching entitlement.

nancy pelosi defending social security. remarks that senator dick durbin had made about how the white house was perhaps hearing that there were new possibilities. every time you hear about this, you see a bit of a reluctance when you get down to the specifics. >> okay, rich edson, you are the hardest working man. >> while the president tries to make headway in averting the fiscal cliff, the house is headed out for a long weekend. with a closed-door meeting with the president and speaker boehner, it was going on? the proposal that white house called the fantasy economics has now been seen by the republican rank and file. >> no, i have not, but i know the general outline of it. none whatsoever. no details given to us.

behind closed doors, just with a few people involved. it is troubling, i think it's troubling to a lot of my constituents. tracy: the republicans splintering. with more on this, brad blakeman. we have president obama during an interview asking him to make more spending cuts. is that a good sign? >> it is a good sign. but he shouldn't be talking to local reporters. he shouldn't be going to pennsylvania. he should be going to capitol hill, or as we have seen now, speaker boehner going to the white house. the deal is going to be made with the principles. as much as congressman would like to be involved in that, it is really up to the leadership to make a deal with the president and with the senate. it takes two to tango here. how's the senate and the white house. the same is going through the auto glass. hopefully they can pass a deal

before the end of the year. tracy: speaker john boehner left the white house. we just heard this news. the party is being left out, is an agreement we have three of the four house republicans that we talk to. they have not known what has been talked about and they may not know what happened today. >> the key leadership and leaders in the senate and house, they know what is being discussed. they are actually trying to prevent leaking this information. a deal is only as good as it is with both parties. speaker boehner thought he had a deal with the president and the president consults his own leadership. >> that is fair. the president said the republicans have resisted raising taxes on the rich.

they have a philosophical process with raising taxes. are they eventually going to have to give in on that? >> it depends what you are definition of riches. we have and believe that republicans, $250,000 is not rich in america today. the question will come down to what you get into return? i like to think of it as small claims court. if everyone goes away happy, the deal is probably good. speaker boehner was probably conciliatory. now it is up to the president to come and talk about spending cuts he is willing to make. >> the american people want those now. i think that we are all just ready to say let's do something. we don't care what it is anymore. we just want resolutions. we have a good deal here. a bad deal can be really bad and we will be stuck with it for a long time. >> absolutely. if the deal is bad for america, it is not for everyone. it is bad for the world. the markets are now waiting for

a decision to be made. it could be bad for the marketplace. we have to make decisions on entitlement and spending and the real cost of our economic rows. in january, we have to be talking about raising the debt ceiling. the one you said it, spending and is our problem. we have so many obligations that there is no room for error anymore. these obligations need to be part of the process. >> there's no question about it. democrats know that the root root cause is spending, but they like to do it. the president just last week announced part of his deal, enormous spending and stimulus

package. we've been down this road before. the problem isn't revenue, it is spending. it is spending today and that we incur for tomorrow. >> former george w. bush adviser, thank you for being with us. >> okay, we are going back to the white house right now. rich edson has some breaking news event that will do it for the white house meeting with john boehner. he left just a few minutes ago here from the white house. a 50 minute meeting between the two. the last few meetings and phone calls between the speaker and the president had yielded no progress. still waiting for updates from anyone inside. perhaps a sign that he didn't have any problems. there really has been very little progress and as soon as we hear anything, we will let you know. >> i know you will. and you so much. anything that we hear, we will get you as soon as possible.

if the u.s. falls off the fiscal cliff, we land in another recession? this is what everybody wants answered. steve, what could happen is they come to some lame compromise before the end of the year. they say next year we will do it in january. we might have a block of time what we don't know what is going on. during that chunk of time, the economy could see itself while precipitately very quickly. >> i would make the case that there is complete uncertainty. nobody knows what's going on. i think we have a little bit more clarity in the last couple of days. i've been spending a lot of time on capitol hill. the most likely outcome now is republicans are probably going to get higher tax rates on the rich with some nuances to that. republicans are now saying for the most part they are willing to allow spending cuts to go through. republicans have a lot of

spending options. there is nothing president obama can do to stop that. not such a bad solution at this point. look, this is a business. look at what this has done in the last four years. they have tightened their belts. they have cuts all extraneous senators. the corporations are amazingly efficient and productive right now. guess what institution hasn't done that? government agencies. people say across-the-board cuts is the way to do it. it's not too bad. they get an eight to 10% reduction. next year you talk about the big entitlements they were talking to brad about.

tracy: i don't think that's such a bad idea. before we move on. before we talk about what ben bernanke did yesterday, i want to ask you, do you think even if we go over the cliff, we fall into the recession? or will we be okay? >> the spending cuts, i just want to make it crystal clear. cutting government spending is good for the market and it's good for the economy. all of this nonsense about we can't take spending cuts, that is the same logic that led to the idea of the $800 billion stimulus bill will get us out of this mess. the other part of this equation is whether those tax increases on investment -- capital gains, dividends, small business taxes will go up. you know, i'm very nervous about that. this is a really bad idea to raise taxes on capital gains and dividends. whether it puts us into a double dip, i don't know. but it certainly could give a shock to the economy. >> ben bernanke saying he's out of their suitcase and he's got

nothing left, right? is that he's basically saying? >> he said this could be going on for years and years to come. what you have is a maximum amount of stimulus. and that is being financed by enormous amount of financing. tracy: that's something we have to talk more about. it could be very ugly enough the end of the day, it could be very interesting. all right, do you think we are headed off the fiscal cliff? let us know. give us an e-mail at gerri@foxbussiness.com. >> coming up on "the willis report", tax dollars have bailed

out these workers. we have the shocking findings of a new report coming up next. also, for those fed up with apple's disaster mapping system, google maps is back in business for your iphone. details coming up later. also, they say no news is good news. but this you will definitely want to hear. new evidence of obamacare doing more harm than good to your bottom-line. we will have the latest and we are on the case next in "the willis report."

speed. tracy: fannie mae and anyone sparking outrage over six-figure salaries. many executives are raking in serious money. these agencies have accrued $138 billion in taxpayer funding. they still owe us $137 billion

of that. for more on this, let's bring in rich edson. a former executive vice president. he is now president and fellow -- excuse me, resident fellow at the american enterprise institute. these salaries are really bothering a lot of people. 333 vice presidents are making almost $400,000. >> these numbers are out of line. i have supported the senior management. the executive vice president ceo getting market-based alleys. once you get below those, they should spend the ranks of these directors and vice presidents, they should cut the salaries back. i said one year ago that i thought a proposal to bring them under civil service makes sense. it would actually help some of the lower level employees.

tracy: right now they are making more than nongovernment employees. they are making more than a non-private sector for the same job across the board. >> absolutely. i think it is important. that is the other part of the story. i think that in any case they have been expanding since they have gone through a conservatorship. these entities have to start shrinking. that is the whole goal. why should they be expanding, and at the same time, lowering salaries for these mid-level employees. it would be the right thing to do. %-they deal with very technical things. they take on high risks, we should reward them for it. you could say that about any business. are we ever going to be able to unravel these agencies are you as you are saying, they are going and not getting smaller. we need to get rid of them at some point.

>> that's right, it's a tricky process. what is happening is congress passed a law a year ago to mandate that. the problem is unless you fix the fha, the business will tip over and that will not solve the problem. the director said a week and half ago that the path to reform is ultimately that you have to deal with fha first. tracy: let's talk about that. there are better loans being made. part of the problem is the hangover from all the bad loans that were being made. we do have better loans coming to market now. will that help? >> the problem is it is really a tale of two cities. you have fha making bad or high risk loans. 40% are subprime.

were they have debt ratio in excess of 50%. that is the bad amount. they are using the good to average out the bad. the problem is i just released a study that shows that in working-class neighborhoods, with incomes below the median, these neighborhoods are suffering from extraordinarily high if all levels for the 2009 and 2010 year. tracy: they need the bad loans to cover the good ones? >> they should not be doing the bad ones. they need to make responsible that once top. fha is a financing failure in these working-class neighborhoods. tracy: i hope we can figure out

a way to wrap this up. it's a pleasure to have you been i think you. tracy: here is our question tonight. should executives of bailed out companies make six-figure salaries? logon and vote on the right-hand side sure the results of your the end of tonight's show. a lot more still to come, including the cost to consumers because of obamacare. it just keeps rising. one of the biggest blunders in apple history. iphone users fear no more. you will be able to guess where you're going. we have tte details on how to do that.

tracy: apple and the company's biggest blunder. coming up next, the reunion with google that is long overdue.

up for the company's biggestke blunder in history. mac's apple maps. >> people were lost without this application. many in different parts of the world getting confused and glitches in the software program. there isn't enough to fix some of it. google unveiling the apple maps today and it is already getting a good reception. it is the top download in the app store. there are public transportation

mouse included. it fixes the glitches that many complained about in apple maps. wrong names, misplaced landmarks and incorrect addresses that cost people money and cause them confusion. the apple group, of course, it is for free. this application. but it's not altogether perfect. there isn't an ipod version just yet and also the voice immigration is not as good as other brands. it is only available in english. still to come, also, there is no tie in with the contacts. overall, these glitches are relatively small and simple and people are rejoicing. back to you. tracy: i certainly am.

well, about a chilly in google searches are performed every day. what people search for it is an indicator of some of the biggest news stories of the year. the stories about the most searches make of tonight's top five. you reminisce? jeremy lynn wanted to very few went on an unexpected winning streak for the new york knicks. he was traded to the houston rockets in the summer. number four is "the hunger games." the franchise went viral and made jennifer once a superstar. number three is the most talked about story on this network. the election. it is also the number one thing talked about on twitter this year. number two is superstorm sandy. the storm that devastated much of the northeast captured headline after headline. it's part outline government

response. at length one of the biggest gatherings of rock musicians ever in last night's fund-raising concert. the number one search story is the death of whitney houston. her shocking death in february had everybody talking. asking questions and remembering legendary singer. playing some of her unforgettable songs. on the top 10, deal with it and of course gangham style, and no, i'm not going to do that dance. coming back with more union news and views from obamacare. insurance companies are threatening major rate hikes. we will have all that matters.

uh... whew. [ male announcer ] brk from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

tracy: surprise, surprise. obamacare is forcing insurance rates. blue shield of california is hiking and three by 12 to 20% this month. it is certainly not alone. the ceo of aetna says we are going to see some markets go up as much as 100%. also a slew of other hidden fees passenger obamacare. with more, the ceo of vital spring technologies you're with us. i'm glad you're here with us. i don't think anybody really understands how much this is going to cost. >> you are very right. this is out of control. the cost of obamacare every week, continuing to soar. today's announcement by blue cross blue shield of california and aetna upgraded are great

examples. premiums have gone up already. blue cross blue shield and others have no option to stay profitable unless they increase premiums. obamacare has basically changed the entire way that insurance works. they can no longer factor in how sick and individualist. they have to accept anyone with pre-existing conditions. what are they going to do? of course they are going to raise premiums because they have to stay in business. >> i know there are a lot of consumer advocates saying that you guys have a lot of change in your cash reserves. milk that is a idea to raise

premiums. >> there's no question. if we are expected -- if i am an insurance company executive today and i am supposed to be taking on a whole slew of individuals and not be able to price things based on the underlying conditions, i have no idea what i'm getting into. the second thing is there is a number of factors that are really concerning. not only insurance companies, but employers as well as states in terms of what this is really going to cost. since the law was enacted, the cost of obamacare has gone up from about $464 billion to over 500 72 billion and it's not coming down. tracy: that is why so interesting that this will have a small effect on large employers. how could that possibly be? >> it is not. we have seen companies like

sears make some drastic changes. we have heard about companies in food services and retail industries that have talked about switching some of their workers part-time. we have seen an increase in the number of employers who may just pay the penalty and ask their employees to actually participate in the exchanges. so the number of people that actually have to get the federal subsidies is going up, which is why there is this concern of how much the government is going to have to shell out. based on those estimates. the cbo, for where things are right now, it has big implications for what john boehner is talking about. there should be some conccrns. in the last two years, those

numbers have gone up significantly. that needs to be on the table on preventing us from going over the fiscal cliff. tracy: make a great point. covering these pre-existing conditions, maybe we could push out for a little bit. we are not really sure that people can afford that yet. i think even they are realizing that that -- you know, and medical equipment tax, all of this is so onerous. >> is extremely onerous. there is a lot of concern about device manufacturers and hospitals who have to take the medicare cuts in terms of what has been proposed. they are not going to get the new consumers by not expanding medicaid in some states. this would be a huge cut to possibility. a lot of stakeholders in the industry will be effected affected if this trend continues down the path.

tracy: i wish you could talk everyone. nobody is listening right now. all right, when we come back, lou dobbs is going to give us his take. also labor issues not only making headlines in michigan, but broadway theaters may go dark thanks to a looming strike. we will have the details on that coming up next. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. tracy: breaking news that secretary john boehner is returning to his office. we did hear from white house officials that lines of

communication are open. this is a meeting that we learned that secretary timothy geithner was there as well. the three of them in together. a friend meeting. the lines of communication are open. we will give you more as we get it. meanwhile, when the obama administration blocked the keystone pipeline, it was said that oil would be sell to the chinese. he gave the go-ahead to sell one of the biggest oil companies to them. china doesn't just get access to the canadian oil fields. the chinese get direct access to choose reserves in our own back yard in the gulf of mexico. it still needs approval from washington, but the chinese will control a major north american oil company. lou dobbs is with us now. i cannot imagine that you think this is a good idea.

lou: is a terrible idea if it's not altered. as you know, the oil and the immense reserves, it will likely begin doing so over the years ahead. it is a big deal for the chinese. they also have control just about 116 million barrels of oil in the gulf of mexico, primarily fields off the coast of louisiana. those are under u.s. jurisdiction. the trick here is the chinese offshore oil company, the chinese national offshore oil company, they have run into this before. it was back in 2005 when they tried, as you probably recall,

they ran into all sorts of issues due to better than other technology and resources held and it was locked. this time, i think it is -- it is very important that significant authorizations are made to this deal. by the way, the canadians, one of the canadian minister said if they have these new rules in place that they implemented this week, this deal would not have gone ahead. the sale would not have happened. tracy: why is the white house wishy-washy when it comes to china? granted, we are, too, we are screwing around with our dollars. but why don't we call it to be looked at by demonstration? lou: well, there has been this deal that there is a country of 1.4 billion people in the near-term.

that is a lot of people. i can't tell you how many ceos have said to me if we just sell one widget or whatever. each consumer in china, we will make a billion dollars just as that. many of them are finding themselves over invested in what is a production economy in the u.s. has been plagued in the relationship. i hope this will be an exception to that. tracy: you and me both. >> we will be talking about all of this on the show tonight. we will talk about the meeting that just adjourned between the president and speaker boehner. we are going to have the very latest from the white house and we are also going to be exploring that. we will be talking with two of the shrewdest politicals of onset i know.

hank sheinkopf and our own chris tyrol. also, we will talk about susan rice and her consideration to be secretary of state. hank sheinkopf and chris stirewalt. tracy: we have some busy days ahead. you have to be sure to watch "lou dobbs tonight", tonight and every night at 7:00 p.m. in 10:00 p.m. eastern time one of new york city's biggest tourist attractions. broadway could face a labor strike before the end of the year. we are joined by michael riedel. tell me, is it different from the 2007 strike?

>> yes, it is. it is a very small unit was not very powerful. they are one of the most powerful unions in the country. it cost the city millions of dollars before, i think that it's time to put the pressure on the producers, but i talked to a lot of them and they all think they will be able to get over this. tracy: still, the prices are over control. the average booking ticket is $193. you can take your family to see that. >> it is a handcrafted business in some ways. these additions have a powerful unit and actors have a powerful unit. the producers have realized that there is a demand for the hot shows. there are a number of people around the world willing to pay what i think are outrageous ices to see the hit shows.

i asked the producer of the book of mormon once how many tickets at $450 do you want to sell? and he said as many as they could. broadway is big business. if the market bears those prices, they will get them. tracy: that is the thing. people are paying it. you can't get a book of mormon ticket for we see your. >> the problem is you are either a smash hit show that everyone wants to see enable pale that amount of money, or you are discounting tickets heavily. because of the cost structure, german by the cost of unions, you have very little wiggle room. >> it is very interesting. tracy: some days before the week is out, there is a new show in broadway. >> yes, some go out and some new ones come in. tracy: only 63% of all ticket sales are for tourists. are they coming back this year? >> this has been very

interesting because of the quality of the shows. broadway lives or dies by how creative the shows. everyone comes across them from time to time. we've just had a bumper crop or a bad shows lately. the book of mormon is great. it is worth paying the high ticket price war. sometimes you can find a good deal on weeknights. tracy: all right, we will be right back.

tracy: one of the greatest

benefits of having a 401k retirement plan is your company matches your contribution. every time you contribute, not only 7% of companies nationwide do not make matches, it is very good news -- but a recent move by ibm could change the future of the 401k altogether. joining us now is the president of the online 401k. here is here's why everyone is concerned about this. ibm, nobody pays attention for the most part. and the benefits world, it sets the gold standard, doesn't? >> it does. tracy: so they decided they're not going to match dollar for dollar. why? >> some of your prior statements, we were talking about how unions influence how obamacare is doubling and tripling the health care costs and how much individuals are having to pay.

when you look at it, if you're running a business and you only have so much money available to you, you have to choose carefully. he said keep that money in the coffers earlier. it is a strategic move due to the uncertainty. at least they are not taking it away. that is something worth mentioning. it is more of a defensive posture to say let's really make sure that we can continue to be a viable entity. tracy: it's interesting that you think obamacare could be part of the decision process. we are saying that we need to hold onto our own cash. the problem is you could be buying in at the market high points. >> well, if that is the only thing you are counting on is that company retirement needs, then you have a personal problem. [laughter] tracy: 46% of americans say they have saved less than $10,000 for retirement. >> that's right. the statistics are staggering.

if you look at it in entirety, you think about where did all this come from, what is this notion of retirement. the three legged stool. pensions, iras, four o. one kays. all of that coming together. what is left anymore? pensions have been shut down companies. pensions are bankrupting municipalities. we talked about social security, it's ppobably not something that we can count on. it is really personal savings. when you look deeper at personal savings from these statistics are alarming. this generation an era that we have grown up and come up people are not taking personal responsibility. my job can't take care of me, this has to reside with me. >> my theory that your check should be your golf cart fees. i don't actually think social security will be there. i don't think my generation does. do you think that we also are very -- we presume that the government will take care of us if we don't have the money? >> yes, there is a demographic that grew up with that promise. the promise of retirement, the

promise of social security, the promise of the gold watch. i think that as we see that demographic move through, we looked behind and our generation and others -- it is a different retirement dream that we need to be thinking about. it doesn't exist anymore. >> everyone better wake up and start saving. >> thank you. tracy: all right, we will be right back with the question of the day. should non-executives at bail out companies with six-figure salaries? we will be right back. trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are ying...

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i heard you guys can ship ground for lessthan the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fex office. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® for a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up- relieving the pain quickly. try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. ♪ tracy: according to a report from the inspector general, for the federal housing finance agency, 2,000 fannie and freddie employees are taking home paychecks for the median pay of more than 200,000. is that fair? should execs that bailout companies get six-figure salaries? here is what some of you are tweeti.